Rack sidecar for additional IT equipment and cable management

ABSTRACT

A structure of a server rack and sidecar combination. The structure may include; a server rack having an opening and a server door on a front side of the server rack; a sidecar mounted to a side of the server rack, the sidecar has an access area on a front side of the sidecar, wherein the server rack opening and the access area are accessible form a common side; an adapter mounted to the accessible common side, wherein the adapter does not restrict access to the server rack opening and the access area, the adapter has at least three vertical sides; and a cable management bar located within the at least three vertical sides.

BACKGROUND

The present invention generally relates to server rack design andconfiguration, and more particularly to a server rack sidecar extensionfor IT or TELCO (telecommunication) equipment and cable management.

Current server rack trends utilize 600 mm wide enclosures. The typicalnarrow form factor leaves limited space for Power Distribution Units(PDUs). In most cases, these narrower racks require PDUs to be placed ina pocket inside the sidewalls, but are not installable or serviceablewithout removing side panels or equipment. Similarly, there is limitedspace for cable routing from sides or top to bottom along EIA rails.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a server rack andsidecar combination is provided. The structure may include a server rackhaving an opening and a server door on a front side, wherein the serverdoor is adjustable; a sidecar mounted to a side of the server rack, thesidecar having an access area on a front side, wherein the server rackopening and the access area are accessible from a common side; anadapter mounted to the common side, wherein the adapter does notrestrict access to the server rack opening and the access area, theadapter has at least three vertical sides comprising: a connectingsurface coplanar with the front side of the server rack and the frontside of the sidecar; a server door surface that extends from anintersection line with the connecting surface to a horizontal distance(h) from the connecting surface, wherein the horizontal distance (h) isgreater than zero, and the server door abuts the server door surface ata closed position of the server door; and a secondary surface thatextends from a second intersection line with the connecting surface tothe horizontal distance (h) from the connecting surface, wherein theserver door surface and the secondary surface have a third intersectingline at the horizontal distance (h).

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a sidecarstructure is provided. The structure may include the sidecar having oneor more access areas, wherein the sidecar has a means of connecting to aside of the server rack, the server rack having one or more serveropenings, wherein the means of connecting the sidecar to the server rackdoes not restrict access to the one or more access areas and the one ormore server openings from a common side.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, an adaptorstructure is provided. The structure may include an adapter having atleast three vertical surfaces, wherein the three vertical surfacesinclude a connecting surface, a server door surface, and a secondarysurface, the connecting surface is coplanar with a front surface of theserver rack and a front surface of the sidecar, the server door surfaceextends at an angle θ from an intersection line with the connectingsurface, the secondary surface has an intersection line with theconnecting surface and an intersection line with the server doorsurface, wherein the intersection line between the server door surfaceand the secondary surface is a distance (h) from the connecting surface,and wherein the adaptor does not restrict access to a server rackopening or sidecar access areas from a common side.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description, given by way of example and notintended to limit the invention solely thereto, will best be appreciatedin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a server rack, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the server rack, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the server rack, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the server rack and sidecar combination havingan adaptor, a server door, and a secondary door, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the server rack and sidecar combinationhaving an adaptor, a server door, and a secondary door, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the server rack and sidecar combinationhaving an adaptor, a server door, and a secondary door, according to anexemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the server rack and sidecar combinationwith equipment and connecting cables installed within the server rackand sidecar, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale. The drawings are merelyschematic representations, not intended to portray specific parametersof the invention. The drawings are intended to depict only typicalembodiments of the invention. In the drawings, like numbering representslike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosedherein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments aremerely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may beembodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theexemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplaryembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the scope of this invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the description, details of well-known featuresand techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresented embodiments.

References in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

For purposes of the description hereinafter, the terms “upper”, “lower”,“right”, “left”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, andderivatives thereof shall relate to the disclosed structures andmethods, as oriented in the drawing figures. The terms “overlying”,“atop”, “on top”, “positioned on” or “positioned atop” mean that a firstelement, such as a first structure, is present on a second element, suchas a second structure, wherein intervening elements, such as aninterface structure may be present between the first element and thesecond element. The term “direct contact” means that a first element,such as a first structure, and a second element, such as a secondstructure, are connected without any intermediary conducting, insulatingor semiconductor layers at the interface of the two elements.

In the interest of not obscuring the presentation of embodiments of thepresent invention, in the following detailed description, someprocessing steps or operations that are known in the art may have beencombined together for presentation and for illustration purposes and insome instances may have not been described in detail. In otherinstances, some processing steps or operations that are known in the artmay not be described at all. It should be understood that the followingdescription is rather focused on the distinctive features or elements ofvarious embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention generally relates to server rack design andconfiguration, and more particularly to a server rack sidecar extensionfor IT or TELCO (telecommunication) equipment and cable management.Ideally, each part of a rack (e.g., servers, cables, PDUs, etc.) will beaccessible without the need for disassembly of a portion of the rack orcomponents within the rack. One way to design a rack layout to allow foraccess to each component of the rack is to create a sidecar to houseelements not easily accessible in today's racks and to provide anadditional means of cable management. One embodiment by which to form asidecar is described in detail below referring to the accompanyingdrawings FIGS. 1-7.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, a top view (FIG. 1) and two front views(FIGS. 2 and 3) of a server rack 100 are illustrated, according to anembodiment. More specifically, typical features and dimensions of aserver rack are discussed.

Typically, a 19-inch rack is a standard structure for mounting one ormore equipment modules, such as servers and systems. Each module has afront panel that is 19 inches wide, including edges or ears thatprotrude on each side which allow the module to be fastened to the rackframe. 19-inch racks hold most equipment in modern data centers, ISPfacilities, and professionally designed corporate server rooms.Typically, a piece of equipment being installed has a front panel height1/32 inch (0.031 inches or 0.787 millimeters) less than the allottednumber of rack units (U's). Such that, a 1U rack mount computer is not1.75 inches (44.4 mm) tall but is 1.719 inches (43.7 mm) tall. 2U wouldbe 3.469 inches (88.1 mm) instead of 3.5 inches (88.9 mm). This gapallows a bit of room above and below an installed piece of equipment soit may be removed without binding on the adjacent equipment.

A rack's front mounting fixture consists of two parallel metal strips(also referred to as “posts” or “panel mounts”) standing vertically,illustrated as front posts 120 a, 120 b in the figures. The posts eachhave a post width of about 0.625 inches (15.88 mm), and are separated byan internal rack width of 17.75 inches (450.85 mm), giving an overallrack width of 19 inches (482.60 mm). The server rack 100 has two backposts 140 a, 140 b with a gap similar to the front posts. The frontposts 120 a, 120 b and back posts 140 a, 140 b are separated by a rackdepth.

FIG. 2 illustrates a rack with round holes and FIG. 3 illustrates a rackwith square holes (two typical types of mounting designs). The postshave holes at regular intervals, with both posts matching, so that eachhole is part of a horizontal pair with a center-to-center distance of18.312 inches (465.12 mm). The post holes may come in different shapesand sizes, such as, for example, threaded holes for #12-24 or #10-32screws, tapped holes, or square holes. A server door 150 can cover thefront and/or back of the rack. The server door 150 can be attached tothe server via a hinge 114 on one side and a latch 115 on an opposingside.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, a top view (FIG. 4) and two isometric views(FIGS. 5 and 6) of the server rack 100 having a sidecar 160 and anadapter 164 are illustrated, according to an embodiment. Morespecifically, features and dimensions of the sidecar 160 and the adapter164 are discussed.

Typical server rack configurations include mounting systems (e.g.,servers) to the front of the rack for easy access and maintenance,however, other commonly used equipment (e.g., Power Distribution Units(PDUs)) are placed in inside wall pockets which are not directlyaccessible without the removal of the mounted or removable systems.Similarly, there is limited space for cable routing from top to bottomof rack or vice versa, along the EIA rails. This has become even moredifficult as more systems including storage, server and networking haveneed for front of rack cabling.

The sidecar 160 includes storage area for additional server rackequipment, such as, for example, systems, PDUs, cables, or any otherserver equipment know in the art. The sidecar 160 can have one or moreaccess areas 166 for storing the additional equipment. The access areas166 can be accessed from a front side of the sidecar 160. The sidecar160 can be used in conjunction with the server rack 100 by mounting thesidecar 160 to a side of the server rack 100, such that the server rack100 and the sidecar 160 share a common access side (e.g., the accessareas 166 can be accessed from the same side as the front side of theserver rack 100). The sidecar 160 can be fastened to a side of theserver rack 100 using the server rack mounting holes (e.g., the holes inthe front and back posts 120 a, 120 b and/or the back posts 140 a, 140b); however, any other connecting technique may be used, such as, forexample, bolting or welding. The sidecar 160 can have a height and depthsubstantially similar to the height and depth of the server rack 100.

As will be further described in reference to FIG. 7, equipment mountedin the server rack 100 may have cables connecting to equipment mountedin the sidecar 160. As one possible means to have quick and easy accessto the connecting cables, without the need to remove any equipment, anadapter 164 may be used in such a way that allows the cables to extendout from the front of the server rack 100 around the adjacent sides ofthe server rack 100 and the sidecar 160 and into the access areas 166.In a configuration that has the cables protruding from the server rack100 and extending to the sidecar 160, the server door 150 will no longerbe able to fully close. The adapter 164 can create room for theconnecting cables while still allowing for the equipment in the serverrack 100 and the sidecar 160 to be fully enclosed. With the additionalarea needed to account for protruding cables described above, theadapter 164 may extend out a distance (d) from the front of the serverrack 100.

The adapter 164 may have, for example, a triangular profile with threevertical surfaces including; a connecting surface 165 c, a server doorsurface 165 a, and a secondary surface 165 b. The connecting surface 165c may be a surface that abuts the front of the server rack 100 and thefront of the sidecar 160. The connecting surface 165 c can have asurface height substantially similar to the height of the server rack100 and a surface width substantially similar to a rack and sidecarwidth (e.g., the rack width plus the sidecar width). The server doorsurface 165 a may intersect the connecting surface 165 c at a side ofthe server rack 100 opposite the sidecar 160. The server door surface165 a may extend from the side of the server rack 100 opposite thesidecar 160 at an angle (θ) from the connecting surface 165 c. Theintersecting line between the connecting surface 165 c and the serverdoor surface 165 a can be at hinge 114. The server door surface 165 amay have a surface height and width that is substantially similar to theheight and width of the server door 150. The server door 150 can rotateabout the hinge 114 from an open position to a closed position. Theclosed position is where the server door 150 is abutting the server doorsurface 165 a and the open position can by any other position. Theserver door surface 165 a may extend from the hinge 114 to anintersection with the secondary surface 165 b. The intersection betweenthe server door surface 165 a and the secondary surface 165 b may be atthe distance (d) from the connecting surface 165 c. The secondarysurface 165 b may extend from the intersection with the server doorsurface 165 a to the connecting surface 165 c (i.e., forming thetriangular profile).

The adapter 164 can be mounted to the mounting holes in the server rack100 and/or the sidecar 160. The adapter 164 may have a top portion andbottom portion and may have a server rack opening and a sidecar openingthat allows for access to the server rack 100 and the sidecar 160. Acable management bar 168 may be used to organize the connecting cablesbetween the server rack 100 and the sidecar 160. The cable managementbar 168 may be coplanar with the abutting sides of the server rack 100and the sidecar 160 and may extend out perpendicularly to about distance(d).

The original server door 150 may be used after the addition of theadapter 164, such that the server door 150 rotates about the hinge 114between the open position and the closed position. When the server door150 is in the closed position, an opening may still be present along thesecondary surface 165 b exposing the inside of the server rack 100 andsidecar 160. To fully enclose the server rack 100 and sidecar 160, asecondary door 162 may be used to cover the opening along the secondarysurface 165 b. The secondary door 162 may rotate about hinge 124 betweenan open position and the closed position. The closed position for thesecondary door 162 may be when the secondary door 162 is abutting thesecondary surface 165 b and the open position may be any other position.

When the sever door 150 and the secondary door 162 are both in theclosed position, the sever door 150 and the secondary door 162 may belatched using any latching means known in the art, such as, for example,mechanical or magnetic latching means. The latching means may be betweenthe adapter 164, the server door 150, the secondary door 162, or anyother part of the structure.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an isometric view of the server rack 100 havinga sidecar 160 and adapter 164 is illustrated, according to anembodiment. More specifically, an exemplary embodiment illustrates apossible configuration for equipment in the server rack 100 and sidecar160.

A system 170 may be mounted in the server rack 100 using the mountingholes (illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2). The system 170 may be, forexample, a server. A system 174 may be mounted in one of the accessareas 166 in the sidecar 160. The system 174 may be, for example, a PDU.Connecting cables 172 may connect system 170 and system 174 and may beorganized by running through openings 169 in the cable management bar168. As additional systems are added to the server rack 100 and thesidecar 160 additional cables may need to run from one area to another.The additional cables may also be organized using the cable managementbar 168.

One benefit of having a sidecar 160 is that systems that are typicallynot easily accessible in a server rack (e.g., PDUs), may now be directlyaccessible from the front of the final structure (i.e., the server rack100 and the sidecar 160). Additionally, connecting cables betweensystems are also now accessible without the need to remove equipment andmay be easily organized using the cable management bar 168.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles ofthe embodiment, the practical application or technical improvement overtechnologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinaryskill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A structure of a server rack and sidecarcomprising: a server rack having an opening and a server door on a frontside, wherein the server door is adjustable; a sidecar mounted to a sideof the server rack, the sidecar having an access area on a front side,wherein the server rack opening and the access area are accessible froma common side; a triangular shaped adapter mounted to the common side,wherein the adapter does not restrict access to the server rack openingand the access area, the adapter has at least three vertical sidescomprising: a connecting surface coplanar with the front side of theserver rack and the front side of the sidecar; a server door surfacethat extends from an intersection line with the connecting surface to ahorizontal distance from the connecting surface, wherein the horizontaldistance is greater than zero, and the server door abuts the server doorsurface at a closed position of the server door; and a secondary surfacethat extends from a second intersection line with the connecting surfaceto the horizontal distance from the connecting surface, wherein theserver door surface and the secondary surface have a third intersectingline at the horizontal distance.
 2. The structure of claim 1, whereinthe server door is adjustable between the open position and a closedposition.
 3. The structure of claim 1, further comprising: a secondarydoor, the secondary door is adjustable between an open position and aclosed position, wherein the secondary door abuts the secondary surfacein the closed position.
 4. The structure of claim 3, wherein the serverdoor and the secondary door can be latched in the closed position,wherein the server rack opening and the access area is enclosed by theserver door and the secondary door in the closed position.
 5. Thestructure of claim 3, wherein the server rack opening and the accessarea are accessible from the common side when the server door thesecondary door are in the open position.
 6. The structure of claim 3,wherein the connecting surface has a height and width substantiallyequal to the height of the server rack and sidecar and a combined widthof the server rack and sidecar, the server door surface has a height andwidth substantially equal to the height and width of the server door,and the secondary surface has a height and width substantially equal tothe height and width of the secondary door.
 7. The structure of claim 1,further comprising: a cable management bar located within the at leastthree vertical sides of the triangular shaped adaptor, wherein the cablemanagement bar is enclosed by the server door the secondary door in theclosed position, and the cable management bar is accessible when theserver door the secondary door are in the open position.
 8. Thestructure of claim 1, wherein the sidecar is mounted to the server rackusing mounting holes on the server rack.
 9. The structure of claim 1,wherein the triangular shaped adapter is mounted to the server rackusing a plurality of mounting holes on the server rack.
 10. Thestructure of claim 1, wherein the sidecar has a height substantiallyequal to the height of the server rack.